Hunting and Gathering

*To see a bigger version of any picture on the right, just click on it.

Today was the first day of "officially" meeting. It was a really productive day. Right when the meeting started today, everyone gathered around the smart board in Bydlon's room and watched some more YouTube videos as a refresher for people at the Kick-Off and as new information for people who had not seen the game videos before. The energy in the room was extremely contagious. The team made some decisions on mechanisms to try and prototype. Build/Electrical teams split up to start on the shooter and gathering mechanisms.

Our shooting mechanism will be similar to a ball going up a vent but there will be a wheel spinning underneath the ball to provide the lift. We need more parts to continue working on it and that will start tomorrow (picture 1).

The big project for build/electrical was the gathering mechanism. The best way to see what we did is watch the first four videos posted on our YouTube page at this link. Basically, we have an alley on three sides. On the front side will be two motors and a set of belts that will propel the balls up from the floor to our shooter at the top. It is just a prototype at the moment and hopefully we will finish it. tomorrow.

Programming worked more on getting the Kinect to recognize and target each of the rectangular areas behind the hoops (picture 2). Justifiably so, they are itching for a test robot to work on. That will be the build/electrical team's priority at the end of this week.

PR team worked on numerous projects. They sent a summary of the Kick-Off to the Echo Press (local newspaper) to hopefully publish next week. They also worked on a grant from Pete's County Market for addition funding. The team also used their FIRST Choice credits to fill up our Kit of Parts. FRC does not want to give everything to every team because that's not cost effective. Instead, they give every team some things, then give you credits to go online and pick what other items you want. Really great idea. 

Have to say, it was our first official meeting day and we already had our first pizza and late work night. A group of people stayed until 9:30pm... Great start to build season!!

Our new robot design. Haha.

If you didn't see the link above, make sure you check out our YouTube feed which has new videos.